Comparison of Indian Captivty Stories/Randall J. Handly, unsourced
This was drawn from Johnston, 1906 http://www.kinyon.com/westvirginia/midnewriver/chapter4b.htm On September 23, 1779, Mrs. Margaret Pauley and her husband, John Pauley, together with James Pauley, wife and child, Robert Wallace and wife and Brice Miller set out from the Greenbrier section to go to Kentucky. They crossed New River at the Horse Ford near the mouth of Rich Creek and then down New River and up East River, which was the shortest route to Cumberland Gap. Each of the men had his rifle. The women on the horses, on which were packed what household plunder they could carry, were in front, the men in the rear driving the cattle. About noon of the day referred to, and when the party had reached a point on East River about one mile below the mouth of Five Mile Fork thereof, supposed to have been near the upper end of the old farm of Captain William Smith, they were attacked by five Indians and a white man by the name of Morgan, who was in company with the Indians. The first intimation that the party had of the presence of the savages, was the report of the discharge of a gun. The women, Mrs. John and James Pauley, were knocked from their horses by the Indians with their clubs, Wallace and the two children were killed and scalped, and John Pauley though fatally wounded, escaped and succeeded in reaching Wood's Fort on rich Creek, where he died in a short time. The Indians took Mrs. John and James Pauley prisoners, and on leaving the scene of their atrocities, went up East River to the mouth of the Five Mile Fork, and thence up the same to the head, across the Bluestone and on to the Ohio, and to the Indian towns on the Miami. There the two women and the little boy of Margaret Pauley, born shortly after she reached the Indian towns remained prisoners for about two years. Finally Mrs. James Pauley escaped, and Margaret and her child shortly after this were ransomed. Mrs. Pauley's maiden name was Handley. After the return of Margaret Pauley she married a Mr. Erskine, and by whom she had a daughter who married Hugh Caperton, who became a distinguished man, and who was the father of the late United States Senator Allen T. Caperton, of Monroe County. Adam Caperton, the father of the said Hugh, was killed in a battle with the Indians at Little Mountain, or Estill's defeat, near where Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, is now situated. Captain Estill and six of his men were killed, and seventeen of the Indians were killed. This battle was fought on the 22nd day of March, 1782. At the date of the attack on the Pauley party in September, 1779, no settlements had been made along the East River, in fact none existed between Wood's Fort on Rich Creek and that of Thomas Ingles in Wright's Valley. The route being traveled by the Pauley party was along the hunters' trail leading from New River up East River by the site of the present city of Bluefield in Mercer County, and across the Bluestone-Clinch divide to the Clinch, down the same and on by way of Powell's River to Cumberland Gap. This was the route usually pursued by emigrants from the Greenbrier-New River section to Kentucky. See also http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~vlwest/ha-10.htm for a slightly different version In the fall of 1779, the Pauley party, consisting of John Pauley, wife and child, Mr. Wallace, Capt. James Pauley, Margaret and child, and Bruce Miller left Handley's Fort near Union to go to Kentucky. They followed the trail down by Wood's Fort, to New River, crossed the river near the mouth of Rich Creek, and were overtaken by Indians about five miles from the mouth of East River. Capt. James Pauley, Wallace and the two children were killed. Margaret was dragged from her horse and knocked senseless by an Indian club, and John Pauley was mortally wounded. Believing that his wife and child were murdered, John Pauley, although mortally wounded, made his way back to Wood's Fort, where he died the next day of his wounds. Margaret was taken to the Indian towns on the Miami, where she was adopted by Chief White Bark. She was finally released and returned to her people at Union, Va., around 1785. spouse Tridly was from Union. He was a delegate to the Virginia State Assembly in the 1819-1820 term. He also served as a Captain in the Military. Margaret and Michael are buried in the Union Cemetery. Category:Indian Captivity Stories